The Minister for National Food Security and Research, Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan visited Astana, Kazakhstan from 27-28 April, 2016 to attend the 7th OIC Ministerial Conference on Food Security and Agricultural Development. In his statement, the Minister underlined the fundamental role of agriculture for improvement of food security among OIC member states. He noted that in recent times agriculture in the developing countries is going through a difficult period particularly due to the drop in prices of agricultural commodities, climate change, insufficient investment in agriculture research, and low crop yields, and highlighted the several measures taken by the Government of Pakistan to provide relief to the farmers and ensure food security. The Minister also conveyed the, in principle, approval of the Government of Pakistan for joining the newly established Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS), and informed that Pakistan would soon complete the necessary formalities for signing its statutes. The Conference welcomed the establishment of IOFS, a new specialized institution of the OIC, to serve as an executing agency for implementing OIC resolutions and programmes in the domain of agriculture, rural development and food security and urged all member states to allocate more resources from their national budgets to agricultural development and food security programmes.
The OIC Ministerial was preceded by 1st Session of the General Assembly of the Islamic Organization for Food Security (IOFS) inaugurated by the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan. Pakistan attended this meeting as an observer. The IOFS General Assembly discussed and approved a host of administrative and financial matters including nominations for membership of the Executive Board, nomination for the post of Director General, budget, Rules of Procedures, Financial Rules and Personnel Regulations as well as Plan of Action of the IOFS for 5 years.

On the sidelines of the Conference, the Minister for National Food Security and Research held important bilateral meetings with Minister of Agriculture of Kazakhstan Mr. Assylzhan Mamytbekov. Secretary General OIC Mr. Iyad Ameen Madani, President Islamic Development Bank Dr. Ahmad Mohammed Ali, and Minister of Municipalities and Environment, Qatar Mohammad Abdullah Arrumaihi. The discussions were focused on enhancing bilateral cooperation in the agriculture sector. Considering the importance of agriculture sector for promoting food security, both the Pakistan and the Kazakh Ministers agreed to enhance agricultural cooperation between the two countries through mutual exchange of experts in the field of agriculture.

The Conference provided an excellent opportunity for continued dialogue and increased cooperation between the OIC member countries towards promoting the sustainable agricultural development and eradication of hunger and undernourishment.